"What happened in what S. Ward calls the 'dark ages' of what was to become Sussex?"
Exactly!It all depends, unfortunately, on your view point because the available evidence is scant and open to interpretation. The most important debate is whether the South Saxons were brought in by ambitious local Brits (The Balkanisation Theory), or whether they were heroic seaborne invaders as the chronicles would have us believe. I tend towards the former interpretation, but leave room for the possibility of a landing or two.
The other debate is one between tradition and evidence over the route the South Saxons took in their take-over. Tradition has a west-east flow of battles, whilst evidence suggests an east-west progression. I favour the evidence.
And if you want Romance, there's always the possibility that Arthur fought his first battle just south east of Lewes at the mouth of what is now the Glynde. You need Nennius and a stack of archaeological articles to get the context of this one. That and a measure of disbelief over the historicity of said Arthur.
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